One of the best documented super-spreader events in the US is a wedding in Maine last August. Most of the people affected and all of the deaths were among people who had nothing directly to do with the wedding.
Rev. Todd Bell, a pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Sanford, Maine, led the Aug. 7 wedding ceremony at a nearby church, and the 65 attendees were in violation of the state’s COVID-19 restrictions on crowd size and its mask mandate. The ceremony, along with the subsequent reception at Big Moose Inn, has now been linked to at least 180 infections and eight deaths.
I don’t know if they have figured out who patient zero might have been. But I think we may know who it is right away if this turns out to be a super-spreader events as well:
Hours before President Trump tested positive for the novel coronavirus and just one day before he was admitted to the hospital, he mingled with more than 200 people at his New Jersey golf club for a campaign fundraiser.
Less than a week before that, he welcomed 150 political allies and religious leaders — including several who are now infected — to the White House to meet the jurist he has nominated to the Supreme Court.
In between, the president met with dozens of aides without wearing a mask — even in close quarters and after top aide Hope Hicks had tested positive. He appeared before thousands at a rally in Minnesota. And he held a nationally televised debate with former vice president Joe Biden after holing up with debate preppers.
But there was little evidence on Saturday that the White House or the campaign had reached out to these potentially exposed people, or even circulated guidance to the rattled staffers within the White House complex.
As president, Trump is responsible for at least tens of thousands of the COVID deaths because he failed to competently lead the federal response and admittedly “downplayed” the seriousness of it in order to boost the stock market and his re-election.
This is another level. Last week he knowingly personally exposed hundreds of people to COVID. And he may very well will turn out to be one of the greatest super-spreaders of this pandemic.
Update —
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson attended an Oktoberfest fundraising dinner on Friday evening while he was awaiting the test results that would show he was infected with COVID-19.
The Wisconsin Republican chose to attend the bash even though he knew that President Trump and many of his inner circle had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Johnson, who didn’t reveal his diagnosis until Saturday, justified his behavior in comments to the Madison, Wisconsin Capital Times by saying he only took his mask off when it was time to address the crowd. He also insisted that he was “at least 12 feet from anybody” during his speech at the event, which was sponsored by the Ozaukee County Republican Party. It was held at the River Club of Mequon, a self-described “casually elegant private club committed to personal service.”
“I feel fine, I feel completely normal,” he said in a conference call with reporters, adding that he didn’t “stick around” to mingle at the dinner.
Attendees paid from $40 for a single ticket to $500 for “gold host” status, which included two meal tickets, priority seating, and “special host recognition.” Former Wisconsin attorney general Brad Schimel was the evening’s featured guest, according to an invitation on the Ozaukee County Republican Party’s Facebook page.
Johnson has previously come out against statewide mask mandates, and warned against “overreacting.” We “don’t shut down our economy because tens of thousands of people die on the highways,” he said in March.
News of Johnson’s diagnosis comes as Wisconsin’s COVID-19 cases and deaths have risen to record levels.
He is the stupidest man in the Senate so this is unsurprising.